Printing machine



Dec. 20,- 1932. w. H. WALDRON PRINTING MACHINE Filed Feb. i9, 3 Sheets-Sheet '1 INVENTOR W. H. WALDQON' BM 6 6 1mm A TTORNEYS.

Dec. 20, 1932. w. H. WALDRON PRINTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 19, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV EN TOR Illl l|ll|l|l lllll ll llll W. H. WALDQON -1--1 H I M I HH Q q o g m u M, luau/MIL 6 MW.

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PRINTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 19. 1931 s Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VEN TORV W H. WA LDQON ATTORNEYS.

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Patented Dec. 20, 1932 UNITE. STATES WILLIAM H. WALDRON, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO JOHII WALIDR-ON CORPORATION, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF new JERSEY PRINTING M'ACHINE Application filed February 19, 1931. Serial No. 516,859.-

This invention relates to flat block printing machines and more particularly to means for feeding the material to be printed through the machine and to means for causing the printing head to function.

The process of flat block printing comprises essentially three steps, namely, inking the flat block which carries the printing design, making the impression and lifting the fiat 110 block clear of the material printed into its inking position, and pulling the goods forward in exact amount for the repeat operation. A table is usually provided along which the material to be printed travels. Spaced at suitable intervals along the table are cross heads which support the printing blocks, and when the material is in proper position for printing, the cross head is lowered by suitable driving means to produce the impression on the material. The driving means is so designed that the cross head is in its uppermost positionduring the inking of the printing block and the advancing of the material. WVh'en these steps are completed, the driving means lowers the cross head to carry out the printing operation.

Heretofore the driving means for the printing cross head merely acted to provide upward motion to the cross head while the down.-

'ward movement was effected through the force of gravity until immediately prior to the printing operation when a positive pressure was applied only for the duration of the printing operation.

An object of this invention comprehends producing a positive downward drive actuating the printing cross head, at the same time, however, permitting disengagement of the cross head from the driving means when the omission of a printing operation is desired.

Another object of the invention is to apply tension for pulling the goods through the machine evenly over the entire width of the goods and without in any way mutilating the edges thereof.

'A feature of the invention resides in splitting the slide member by'means of which the driving element imparts'motion to the printing block, connecting one portion of the split member to the driving means and the other portion to the printing head and providing a latching member for connecting the two, which may be readily disconnected when it is desired to disable the printing head from performing the printing operation.

Another feature of the invention resides in providing a cylindrical member at the discharge end of the machine over which the printed material passes. A vacuum pump communicates with the interior of the cylinder and the surface ofthe cylinder is pros vided with apertures so that the printed material is held with sufiicient force in contact with the cylinder by the vacuum means to enable it to be pulled through the machine upon rotation of the cylinder.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements. and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the-following description together with the accompanying drawings, wherein V Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of a machine to which the invention may be applied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the split sliding member showing the latch element;

Fig. 8 shows the non-functioning position of the latch member with the sliding members in separated position;

Fig. 4t is a longitudinal section through the axis of the vacuum cylinder; and

Fig. 5 is a cross section of the cylinder shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a cross section through line 66 of Fig. 2 showing a detail of the sliding member; 1

Fig. 7 is a detail showing the manner of counter-weighting the sliding member.

Referring now to the drawings, a machine frame 10 is shown along the top of which the material to be printed is drawn. This material which is indicated by 11 may be any web material as. for instance, paper, fabric, linoleum, or the like. Spaced at intervals along the frame 10 are printing frames 12 for mounting the printing cross heads 13; but as all of these printing frames are identical. one only has been shown for purposes of illustration. A partial cross section of this frame element is shown in Fig. 6 and consists of tongue and grooved slides 14; in which the elements connecting the printing head 13 with the driving members are adapted to slide. These sliding elements consist of a lower element 15 and an upper element 16 which are best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Sliding elements 15 and 16 abut together at the surface 17 and during the ordinary printingoperation of the machine these members are held together by the latch member 18 which is pivoted to the upper sliding member 16 at 19. The lower part of this latch has a iaw 20 which hooks under the stud 21 nroiecting from the lower sliding member 15. Pivoted tothe latch 18 at 22 is a safety catch notched at 24 to engage over the stud 21 so as to prevent the latch 18 from disengaging when the machine is in operation. As a further means of safety a tension. spr ng 25 is shown connecting the latch 23 to the latch 18 ciated with a crank 29 pivoted at 80 so tha when the crank is turned in a counterclock wise direction in the view shown. the dog is displaced to the left so as to engage the arm 31 of the latch 18 to swing the latter from its latching engagement with the stud 21. In order that this may be accomplished. it necessary to release the safety latch 23. and for this purpose a pin 32 is provided fixedly positioned on the frame element 12. Just pr or to the sliding element 1.6 reaching its upper-- When the slide member 16 is retained by the slide up and down in the members 12. Fig. 3 illustrates this condition.

The slide member 15 is equipped with a cam follower 35 adapted to ride on the surface of the cam 36. The cam 36 has a cam slot 37 extending over a large portion of its functioning surface so that a positive drive is imparted to the cam follower for the greater part of the time that the sliding member 15 is in motion. lVith this arrangemeat :1 positive drive is imparted to the printing cross head 13 during its downward stro c so that it is not nece .ary to depend upon the force of gravity to provide this motion, as was the custom heretofore. This positive drive overcomes many disadvantages which formerly existed, for instance, stick ng of the sliding members in the frames when too tight an adjustment existed, uneven lowering of the sliding members on different sides of the machine, and many other disadvantages which can be readily men tioned.

7 he surface of the cam 36 is such that the printing cross head 13 remains at the upper portion of its stroke for a considerable period, is rapidly lowered to perform the printing operation and then returned to its upper position, as shown.

Associated with each printing head 13 is an inking pan 38 supported in a suitable fashion, as, for instance, on gear wheels 39 which ride on racks positioned on opposite sides of the printing bed. The pans are caused to oscillate hack and forth under the printing heads in opposite directions with each successive printing operation. The inking of the printing block may be effected by means of an inking roller 40 mounted in the pan which sweeps across the face of the printing block the pan passes thereunder.

Many expcdients may be used for imparting the oscillatory movement to the inking pans but in the embodiment shown, a walking beam 41 suitably pivoted to the machine frame at 42 is used for this purpose. The up per log 43 of the walking beam is provided with a link 4-1 which drags a gear wheel 45 over the stationary rack 46. Another rack d7 rides along the top of the gear wheel 4 and i n accordance with well known principles receives twice the longitudinal displacement of the center of the gear wheel 45. The rack 47 connected with the inking pans, all of which are linked together so that they move in accordance with the movement of the rack.

The walking beam is rocked back and forth by means of the arms 48 and at?) which have pins 50 and 51 at their extremities entering respectively the slots 52 and of the walking beam. The arm 48 is driven through a gear train from the shaft driving the cam 36 as is also the arm 49. Considering that the cam is rotating in a counterclockwise dircction, the pin 50 associated with the arm 4-8 is just entering the slot 52 to rock the walking beamto the right, which movement will also be accompanied by a movement to the right of the inking pans. During this movement, the roll rides on the high portion of the cam 36. The walking beam will remain in this position until it is picked up by the pin 51 of the arm 49; but, due-to the gear ratio connecting this arm-with the cam shaft, this prises a pin 54 at the end of the rocker arm 55 which is pivoted at 56. The other end of the rocker arm is equipped with a cam follower 57 riding upon the cam 58 fixedly secured on the same shaft as the arm 48, which cam has diametrically opposed raised portions 59 and 60 functioning at the proper intervals to cause the pin 54 to engage thenotches 61 or 62 on the member 63 which is integral with the walking beam.

After a printing operation and during the inking of the printing block, the web mate rial 11 must be pulled forward for a repeat operation. This pulling is performed by the vacuum cylinder 64 at the right of the machine.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the ends of this cylinder are enclosed by a head 65 which has a bearing surface on the bushing 66 held stationary with respect to the hollow shaft 67 by suitable means, as, for instance, a set screw 68. The hollow shaft 67 is supported and is held against rotation by the bracket 69 and is connected to an exhaust pump 70 through the tubing 71. Within the confines of the cylinder is a compartment 91 formed by the plates 72, 73 and 74 (Figs. 4 and 5) fixedly secured in a suitable manner to the hollow shaft 67. Fastened to these plates and in contact with the cylinder wall are friction sealing blocks 7 5 so that as regards the rest of the cylinder the compartment 91 is substantially airtight. Communicating with the compartment 91 are apertures 7 6 in the hollow shaft 67.

The entire surface of the cylinder within the confines of the plates 74 is provided with apertures 77. Obviously as the material 11 passes over the cylinder 64, it completely covers the apertures in the cylinder which communicate with the compartment 91 at any instant. The vacuum produced in this compartment by the pump 70 holds the material tightly against the cylinder and is suficient to pull the material through the machine when the cylinder is rotated.

Rotation of the cylinder is accomplished by the gear wheel 73 which may be keyed to the cylinder head at 79. This gear meshes with another gear wheel rotating integrally with a star Wheel 81. The star wheel is rotated at intervals by means of pins 82 and 83 which coact with slots 84. These pins are positioned on a plate 85 rotating integrally with a gear wheel 86 which is driven by another gear on the shaft driving one of the cams 36. The slots of the star wheel are so arranged that the wheel is rotated during that portion of the printing operation when the printing cross head is in the inking position. Power is supplied to the machine through the shaft 87 which is suitably geared to the cam shafts of the cams '36, the power for the other operations being derived through the various connections with'these shafts. I

In order to conserve as much power as possible, a'counterweight 88 is connected by ance the printing cross head, the upper sliding member 16 and the elements connected thereto. Thus the only power which is necessary to be supplied through the cams 36 for the printing operation is that necessary to overcome friction and to reciprocate the lower sliding element 15.

Although the description has dealt only with a manual means for operating the dog 26 when it is desired toskip a printing operation, it is obvious that this can be carried out automatically if desired by a suitable cam mechanism geared to or driven by the shaft of the cam 36 and arranged to operate the dog 26 at any desired intervals. Anyone skilled in the art will appreciate how such a cam mechanism can be designed.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and difierent embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained. in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense; i

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described. and all statements of the scope of the invention which. as a matter of Language. might be said to fall therebetween.

Having cescribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is:

. 1. The combination in a fiat block prlnting press, of a. printing head, means comprising press, of a printing head, means comprising a cam functioning to positively lower said printing head to perform the printing operation, and disabling means associated with said printing head for rendering the same inoperative without affecting the operation of said driving means.

3. The combination in a flat block printing press, of a printing head, a sliding member associated with said head for imparting motion thereto, means for providing said motion, said sliding member comprising one element associated with the printing head and another associated with the means providing said motion, means connecting said sliding members, and disabling means for rendering said connecting means inoperative.

4. The combination in a flat block printing press of a printing head, driving means for imparting reciprocal motion to said printing head,'means for connecting said printing head and said driving means comprising a plurality of sliding members, and a latch member connecting said sliding members.

5. The combination in a flat block printing press, of a printing head, means for imparting reciprocal motion to said printing head, means for connecting said printing head and said driving means comprising a plurality of sliding members, a latch member connecting said sliding members, and means for rendering said latch inoperative.

6. The combination in a flat block printing press, of a printing head, means for imparting reciprocal motion to said printing head, means for connecting said printing head and said driving means comprising a plurality of sliding members, a latch member connecting said sliding members, and safety means for holding said latch member in operative position.

7. The combination in a flat block printing press, of a printing head, means for imparting reciprocal motion to said printing head. means for connecting said printing head and said driving means comprising a plurality of sliding members, a latch member connecting said sliding members, and means for rendering said latch inoperative and for preventing said printing head from performing the printing operation.

8. The combination in a fiat block printing press of a printing head, driving means for said head comprising a cam, a divided sliding member connecting said driving means with said printing head, means on one element of said divided sliding means co-acting with said cam to cause said element to be constantly driven thereby, a latch member pivoted on the other element of said divided sliding means adapted to cooperate with a member on said first mentioned sliding element so as to lock the two together, and means for rendering said locking means inoperative.

9. The combination in a fiat block printing 

